Watch Your Potassium Levels

Did you know that POTASSIUM helps keep your brain, nerves, heart and muscles functioning normally?

Did you know a diet that includes foods rich in POTASSIUM works to help lower blood pressure?

Did you know that POTASSIUM helps boost bone strength and it helps to reduce the risk for kidney stones?

According to the article I read on WebMD, by Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, adults should have 4,700 milligrams of dietary potassium per day as part of a balanced diet.

I do not generally get into reading such articles, but for some reason this one caught my attention. I have heard of people nearly going into cardiac arrest because there potassium levels were too low. Anyone taking diuretics really needs to be careful with their potassium levels! Lately I have known a couple of people who were suffering from kidney stones...yes suffering something awful! I thought this information was important enough to pass on to you!

Here’s how many milligrams (mg) of potassium you'll get from these potassium-rich foods:
Winter squash, cubed, 1 cup, cooked: 896 mg
Sweet potato, medium, baked with skin: 694 mg

Potato, medium, baked with skin: 610 mg

White beans, canned, drained, half cup: 595 mg

Yogurt, fat-free, 1 cup: 579 mg

Halibut, 3 ounces, cooked: 490 mg

100% orange juice, 8 ounces: 496 mg

Broccoli, 1 cup, cooked: 457 mg

Cantaloupe, cubed, 1 cup: 431 mg

Banana, 1 medium: 422 mg

Pork tenderloin, 3 ounces, cooked: 382 mg

Lentils, half cup, cooked: 366 mg

Milk, 1% low fat, 8 ounces: 366 mg

Salmon, farmed Atlantic, 3 ounces, cooked: 326 mg

Pistachios, shelled, 1 ounce, dry roasted: 295 mg

Raisins, quarter cup: 250 mg

Chicken breast, 3 ounces, cooked: 218 mg

Tuna, light, canned, drained, 3 ounces: 201 mg
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

If you are taking any medications you need to ask your doctor or pharmacist how those medicines might affect the potassium levels in your body.

Easy to Make Yarn Holder

Do you knit or know someone who knits? This craft project is easy and helpful to keep that knitting yarn from getting in a tangled mess.

Take an empty oatmeal container. Make a hole in the top of the lid large enough for the yarn to come through.

Cover the oatmeal container with scrapbook pages or heavy wrapping paper. You will need to measure around the container. My container was the 42 ounce size, so I used two scrapbook pages to cover this oatmeal container. I glued the pages to the container with Elmer's craft bond all purpose glue stick. I love glue sticks!

Please leave a comment on this post and share other ideas using oatmeal containers.



Post Shopping/Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was great. We made reservations at Ingrid's Kitchen in Oklahoma City and enjoyed dinner with our daughter, my husband's boss and her husband. Before going to dinner on Thanksgiving, our daughter and I went on the first bargain hunting shopping trip for Christmas gifts.

On Friday morning we hit our first store at 5:00 am and loaded up on some really good deals.

Next we picked up my husband's boss and took her Christmas shopping. In the middle of the day we picked up my husband, at our daughter's house, and took him to get a piece of equipment fixed for one of his clients. While we were gone he had boiled a whole chicken, so we made a pan of chicken and cornbread dressing for him to bake while we were gone on  the next shopping trip. Our final shopping of the day was the grocery store, to purchase supplies to make chili for supper. Our daughter also made the best deviled eggs. Crazy menu....chicken and dressing, deviled eggs and chili! Plus, pecan pie with chocolate chips, sweet potato pie and peppermint pie. I will tell you about these pies in future blogs.

On Saturday we decorated our daughter's house inside and outside for Christmas. Here is a photo of my husband with the lights we are about to hang across the front of her porch. Note that he is in shorts and barefoot...the weather was just beautiful! We also wrapped all the Christmas presents we purchased the two days before. Our Christmas shopping and decorating are done for 2010!

This is how the decorations look as night begins to fall.

This photo shows my husband sitting on the porch admiring our Christmas decorating at "the baby's" house. With our jobs done, we headed west to go home and love two cats who were missing us.

Blue Goose Onion Burgers

To most people this might appear to be just a fried onion burger...but it is NOT. This is the family BLUE GOOSE ONION BURGER. The Blue Goose burger is NOT your regular burger. There is a science to the making of the Blue Goose Onion Burger. No, I am not kidding! These burgers just taste different and they are so good.

E.S. Williams made this excellent burger, many years ago, in his Blue Goose Cafe at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He passed the knowledge and recipe down to his sons, Johnny and Dennis. Today is Johnny's birthday (11/27) and nine days ago (11-18) was his little brother Dennis' birthday. So for a few days every year they are the same age! Happy Birthday guys!! HIGH FIVE sister-in-law Sandy...we got a couple of good cooks!!  Ok...back to the burgers...

First take 1/4 cup scoop of hamburger meat and make it into a ball with your hands.

(it is easier to use a ice cream scoop, but we only have the shovel kind)

Then put the ball of meat on the grill.

Lay some sliced onions on top of the ball.

Take a big spatula and flatten the ball, pushing the onions down into the meat pattie.

Butter both sides of the bun and put the buttered side down on the grill. OMG...now you are beginning to get the "smell" of the Blue Goose Onion Burgers wafting through the kitchen. There is something about the smell of a toasting hamburger bun that takes us back to our childhood days. You need to use the small size hamburger buns for these burgers.

Flip your hamburger patties over and make sure they are cooked all the way through. None of that medium rare crap they talk about on TV....hamburgers should be cooked!

While the burgers are cooking and the buns are toasting. Get out the dill pickle slices. Every Blue Goose Onion Burger has 3 dill pickle slices.....NOT 2 NOT 4, but exactly 3! And a circle squirt of mustard. Lay the pickle slices on a paper towel to dry the excess juice off the pickles.

Now assemble your burger and enjoy!!! My husband had not made burgers like this in years. After doing these I am sure I will get to have them more often. Using the smaller buns and less meat probably makes them healthier for us too. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Ree on TV Throwdown

Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman appeared on television with Bobby Flay. Ree contacted Bobby and challenged him to a Thanksgiving Throwdown. I would have loved to have been a little mouse and watched Bobby Flay as he was driving across the Oklahoma country side on his way to the Drummond Ranch for the Throwdown.

Ree Drummond is the famous Oklahoma blogger http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and the top of her blog notes that she is "Plowing through life in the country...one calf nut at a time" She has appeared on several television programs such as The View and travels across the country to book signings for her cookbook. If you have not read her blog...do it now...subscribe and you will receive a daily dose of Ree's life on the ranch, near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, with her husband Marlboro Man and their children. She is awesome!

The following photos were taken of Ree Drummond and Bobby Flay with their crews during the Throwdown program as it ran on television. Trisha Yearwood (country music super star) and Jeff Castleberry (Tulsa chef) were the judges for the Throwdown.

Ree Drummond

Bobby Flay's brussel sprouts recipe can be found on the Food Network website.

Ree's turkey that she had put in brine and then rubbed with lots of yummy buttery herb stuff. Her recipe for Thanksgiving turkey can also be found on her website http://thepioneerwoman.com/ or on the Food Network website. http://www.foodnetwork.com/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/index.html

Bobby Flay and Ree Drummond

 This is Ree's husband that she calls the Marlboro Man. Now he does not smoke, but he looks smokin hot in the Wrangler's and chaps he wears for working around the ranch. Ree posts some nice photos of him from behind! I think this is the first time I have actually seen him from the front...lol.

Ree shows her finished plate before she and Bobby exchange tastings.

Ree's Pecan Pie with Whiskey Sauce

Trisha Yearwood (who lives with her husband Garth Brooks near Tulsa, OK) and Jeff Castleberry judging the Thanksgiving Throwndown. Trisha has written cookbooks of her own. Jeff is a chef at a Tulsa hotel.

Bobby Flay looks a little worried during the judging.

And the winner is.....Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman!!! OK this is the best I could do to let you enjoy the program, just in case you missed it! This was the third time I watched it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is another day that we have "an excuse" for eating too much. Spending more than anyone in their right mind would spend on a meal. Yes, I know there are the wonderful leftovers to spread out over the next several days. It is way easier and lots cheaper to just go out for lunch that day!

Thanksgiving should be the day we remind ourselves how thankful we are for our family, friends, our pets, good health, a roof over our heads, food to eat regularly and the other things that bless our lives.

So, for my Thanksgiving blog, I am going to show you photos of a turkey I made for my daughter to use at school. I am going to say I am thankful for YOU, because you are reading this blog. I am very thankful for all the things I mentioned above and that I finally realized it was smarter to not go through the stress of cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner!

This was a paper turkey made for the school bulletin board. It is made out of bulletin board paper wrapped around wadded up newspaper. You just have to use your imagination to shape the turkey. The celery and carrots were also made out of bulletin board paper. Then everything was glued down inside a dollar store roasting pan. The kids at school thought it was way cool. My daughter put the students "What I Am Thankful For" lists around the turkey.

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



Cinnamon Toast

It is a good idea to have something light for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning and one of my favorite things is cinnamon toast. Just put it in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes and it is done. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk and you will be able to wait for Thanksgiving without being over stuffed.

First butter the bread and put on a cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with sugar or Splenda.

Next sprinkle with cinnamon...I like LOTS of cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees until toppings melt together and browns.

YUMMY! Cinnamon toast is a easy to make quick breakfast. Sometimes we forget these old simple delights we enjoyed as children. This is another thing to pass down to grandchildren.

Embroidery?

The lost art of embroidery seems to be slipping away from the current generation. It is sad that we do not take the time to teach our children or grandchildren how to do the embroidery stitches. No one has the time or will take the time to do it! I can't recall who taught me how to embroider, because my mother did it and still does, my grandmother's both did it and so did my aunts. I remember having some beautiful embroidery stitches on my childhood clothing. I also remember tablecloths, quilt squares, pillow cases, dresser scarfs, pot holders and tea towels made out of flour sacks, with some very elaborate patterns brought to life with the embroidery threads.

My Aunt Robbie made these beautiful tea towels and embroidered love in every stitch for me!

I don't even know if you can buy embroidery patterns anymore? The last few things I have embroidered, I just drew the pattern on free handed. I stitched my granddaughter's name on one side of a pillow case and an angel on the other side. Pretty simple pattern. The old style embroidery patterns were laid on the fabric and pressed with a warm iron to make the transfer to the fabric. Iron? Mmmm I wonder where my iron happens to be?? That is another thing we do not use as much as we did a few years ago!

Birthday Celebration

My husband was surprised when we went out to eat at the Mark Restaurant for his birthday celebration. He thought it was just going to be the two of us for prime rib. He was tickled when the grandchildren arrived to share the celebration. He loved his new OU shirt they brought him for his birthday.

Husband with his pride and joy!

One daughter had to work at school and the other was babysitting for a friend. It is wonderful that our granddaughter is old enough to drive and that her Pop got her her first car!

Husband in his new OU shirt from the grandkids. He had to wear it while he watched the OU game on Saturday. It keeps me busy trying to watch OU and flipping channels to watch the Arkansas Razorbacks at the same time. Thank goodness I can watch OSU without all the channel flipping. Next Saturday is OSU vs OU....I will be the one in orange.

Cornbread Dressing(s)

Pansy Pearl's Cornbread Dressing

(Pansy Pearl is my mother and this is the cornbread dressing she makes.)

2 pans Aunt Jemima corn meal mix cornbread (in Oklahoma we use Shawnee brand)

prepared according to package directions

1 whole chicken

stick of oleo (margarine)

chicken broth (at least 2 quarts)

1/2 stalk celery or more, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 loaf old bread

1 cup saltine crackers

salt and pepper

ground sage (lots) at least 2 tablespoons to taste

2 eggs (raw not cooked)

Make cornbread, 2 cups each pan recipe on sack of mix. Cook chicken (boil in large Dutch oven-type pan). Debone chicken. Add oleo (margarine) to broth. You will need as least 2 quarts of broth. Chop celery and onion; cook celery and onion in broth until done (tender). Crumble the bread and crackers. Mix cornbread, old bread and crackers in a large pan. Pour broth over mixture until real (real real) moist. Add salt, pepper, ground sage and eggs to mixture. Add chicken meat. Mix real good with hands. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned on top. It is even better the next day warmed up for leftovers.

###

I was reading about different cornbread dressings, and found the following tasty sounding ideas to add to the basic cornbread dressing above. Of course, I would have to make my own little pan of dressing with the additions, if I ever planned on having them. My grown daughter whines if she does not get her Thanksgiving cornbread dressing. This is the daughter that learned to cook from my husband, so she should be able to make her own!

IDEAS TO ADD TO BASIC CORNBREAD DRESSING

1.   cooked chopped apples

2.   cooked chopped apples and dried cranberries

3.   cooked chopped pears and dried cranberries

toasted walnuts or pecans

4.  diced dried apricots

5.   chopped leeks instead of onions

sliced cremini mushrooms

6.  use rosemary instead of sage (this is probably a sin?)

7.  Diced winter squash, carrots, parsnips and red onion roasted.

substitute for half the breas

8.  use sourdough or potato bread instead of plain bread

And there were also ideas for other kinds of dressings, such as: sausage-apple, squash-panchetta, chestnut-semolina, Polish-style, kale-garlic, chorizo, ham-cornbread, creole cornbread, mustard-ham, crab, spicy bacon, spinach-sausage, andouille, cranberry-rice, curried basmati, Cajun-rice and Mexican Rice!

WOW this dressing research has been fun and I have only touched the surface of recipes. Maybe this will give you ideas for a little change in the traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas dressing recipe. 



Pringle's Container

Recycle those Pringle's snack containers. I like to make personalized banks for children out of Pringle's containers. It is so easy and makes a neat way to give a gift of money instead of those standard gift cards. Then the child can continue to use the bank to save their money.

First make a slit big enough for quarters in the top of the plastic lid.

Next cover the Pringle's container with heavy gift wrap or scrapbook pages or paint with acrylic paint. The one shown is covered with heavy gift wrap glued down on the container. I have painted a camouflage pattern for boys and pink flowers for girls. It takes about the same amount of time to make this bank as it would to wrap a present. Then put how ever much money you are giving in the bank and your present is complete. 

What do you do with your empty Pringle's containers?

Free Stuff Friday 11/18/10

Lauren's Hope medical ID jewelry is awesome if you have never looked at their web site you need to check it out. The following is information about FREE STUFF FRIDAY... http://www.laurenshope.com/
It's been quite some time since the last official Free Stuff Friday, hasn't it? We've been busy! In case you missed the big news, our designers have been busy creating new styles. All 1,523 of them! To view the roughly 1,523 new styles CHOOSE A LINK...WOMEN'S MEN'S GIRL'S BOY'S
Each contestant in this week's Free Stuff Friday has been lovingly chosen. If this is your first time participating in Free Stuff Friday, please take a moment to read the instructions. If you're already a pro, the comments section awaits!
How Free Stuff Friday Works: If you’re interested in 1 of this week's items do the following:
1. Subscribe to our blog AND leave a comment on this post telling us which item you would like.
2. Share this post with your friends on Facebook and your followers on Twitter.
3. Help spread the word about the Lauren's Hope Blog and Free Stuff Friday by posting an article on your Blog or Website about our Blog.

3 comments will be RANDOMLY selected and the winners will be announced by 5:00 PM CST, November 19, 2010.
Questions? email jenna@laurenshope.com

Otis elevator in Ardmore, OK

The original Whittington Hotel, a wooden structure, opened at the corner of Main and Caddo streets.  Wiley F. Whittington, a former Confederate Army captain, came to Ardmore from Dexter, Texas.  Following the Great Fire of 1895, a 72-room brick and sandstone hotel was built on the same site.  A second reconstruction was needed after the rail yard explosion in 1915.  The Whittington featured the first metal cage Otis elevator in Ardmore.  After Wiley’s death, his daughter Jewel operated the hotel until it closed in 1965.  The building was razed for the bricks and fixtures.

My husband, who has the middle name Wiley, in the first elevator from the Whittington Hotel.

Ardmore, Oklahoma is where my husband was born 62 years ago today!

Note the wheels on the outside operated the elevator with a pulley system invented by Otis.

This wheel on the inside of the elevator was operated by a person to make the elevator go up and down. The little black box below the wheel says emergency button.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND!

Oklahoma Casinos

WOW! I looked up a list to see how many casinos were in the State of Oklahoma and found out there are 33 of them listed. I feel sure there are more going up as I write this post. I knew that the last time we traveled across the state going east on I-40 there was a billboard advertising a new casino every few miles. When I looked at the list it seems that there are casinos in every part of the state. The neat thing about all these casinos is that they are bringing fairly "big name" entertainment to various parts of the state. That is really cool for the rural areas.

We live less that 20 miles one way and less than 30 miles the other way to casinos. We have been to one of them one time when Mom came to visit. We have never been to the other one. First we do not have the money to gamble and second we are both the most unlucky people on the planet when it comes to gambling.

Would we like to go and play the slots? Yes. The next best thing is the computer game my husband has on his game computer. Our friend Pat sent him this computer when his old one died! She knew how much he loved playing the slot game. He also plays craps and card games on the computer. No money spent so none lost!

I wish this blog had sound. When he hits the jackpot on his computer games it makes all the real sounds of slot machines. He also sets a timer to see how long it takes to hit the next jackpot. He cracks me! Tomorrow 11/18 is his birthday and this is probably what he will be doing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUSBAND!



Sweet Pea

This pretty Sweet Pea is one of the plants in the Heirloom garden maintained by community volunteers. It is a low bushy type plant that had spread out four or five feet across its space.

The Sweet Pea plant produced these purple peas that were really thick all over the plant. It would be beautiful planted just about anywhere in a garden or spot in the yard. Between the flowers and the peas it is really pretty.

The Sweet Pea plant must be good because this grasshopper is enjoying a mid-day snack. There were other insects crawling on the plant as well.

The Sweet Pea plant might be good for someone wanting to add something different to their flower garden next spring. Heirloom seeds can be found at a variety of websites.



Lemon Bars

SERIOUSLY the best boxed anything I have tasted in forever! WOW...the box says "Sweet yet tart lemon filling on a buttery shortbread crust" and it promises delicious homemade taste every time! And it kept its promise!!! My husband went and stayed with our daughter for a week, while he worked in the city, and discovered this delightful treat. Why two boxes? Because, one box is only enough for an 8 or 9 inch pan and my husband made a 9 X 13 pan of SUPREME BARS MIX - LEMON. The back of the box also shows Mississippi Mud and Cookie Brownie, but I love the lemon bars. They were so easy to make....well I guess they were easy I only took photos...

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Press the ready-mixed crust (dry), both boxes,  in bottom of ungreased 9 x 13 glass baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Mix together both boxes of Filling Mix, 2/3 cups water and 6 eggs. Be careful when you are getting the filling mix and the crust out of the box. They are not marked and they are both white looking. The whitest one is the filling.

Pour the Filling Mix over the hot crust. Bake 32-37 minutes (9x13 glass pan) or until the top begins to brown; cool completely.

Once cooled completely...my husband said one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, which does not come in the box, if desired. For ease in cutting, use wet knife. Store tightly covered.

I have to tell you these are sooooooo good! I only looked at the nutrition facts on the side of the box AFTER I had eaten one. These ARE NOT diabetic friendly, but they are very low in fat and they do have a little potassium. If you need something quick and easy to take to a holiday party these would be my suggestion. They have a very festive taste.